Los Angeles Mayor: Yes, We Want to Host Olympics for Third Time in 2024

Olympics - 08 Mar 2013 - Los Angeles in USA has confirmed its “enthusiastic interest” in bidding to host the 2024 Olympic Games for a third time in a letter from Antonio Villaraigosa, the city’s mayor, to the US Olympic Committee.

Villaraigosa was responding to a request last month from the USOC to the mayors of 35 cities in USA for expressions of interest in bidding to stage the Olympics and Paralympics in 2024.

In his letter to the USOC Villaraigosa wrote: “We are proud of our city's sports heritage and tradition, and we stand ready to work with you to bring the Olympic Games back to the United States.”

Los Angeles is the first US city to respond positively to the USOC, albeit several other cities, including New York, are also expected to show interest. USA last hosted the games in Atlanta in 1996.

Chicago, which bid unsuccessfully to host the 2016 games, and Detroit have ruled out bidding, while a proposed bid by Boston was described as “far-fetched” by Thomas Menino, the city’s mayor.

A barrier to a US bid for the Olympics was lifted in May 2012, when the USOC finally signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to resolve a long-running dispute over the share of Olympic revenues it receives.

The new 20-year deal with the IOC runs until 2040 and involves the USOC paying games costs, taking a lower share of television revenues and a lower share of top-tier 'TOP' sponsorship revenues.

The revenue dispute was partly blamed for the failure of the bids by New York and Chicago to host the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and the USOC did not submit bids for the 2018 and 2020 games.

Other cities that have expressed interest in bidding to host the 2024 games include: Paris in France; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; Doha in Qatar; Rome in Italy; Berlin or Hamburg in Germany; Toronto in Canada; Nairobi in Kenya; Melbourne in Australia; Baku in Azerbaijan; and a South African city.

The International Olympic Committee is due to select the host city for the 2024 games in 2017.